Energy and Economic Analysis of Date Palm Biomass Feedstock for Biofuel Production in UAE: Pyrolysis, Gasification and Fermentation
This work evaluates date palm waste as a cheap and available biomass feedstock in UAE for the production of biofuels. The thermochemical and biochemical routes including pyrolysis, gasification, and fermentation were investigated. Simulations were done to produce biofuels from biomass via Aspen Plus...
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doaj-de976c5a37114099b52dca2a9694ecfa2020-11-25T04:03:51ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732020-11-01135877587710.3390/en13225877Energy and Economic Analysis of Date Palm Biomass Feedstock for Biofuel Production in UAE: Pyrolysis, Gasification and FermentationRemston Martis0Amani Al-Othman1Muhammad Tawalbeh2Malek Alkasrawi3Department of Chemical Engineering, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 26666, UAEDepartment of Chemical Engineering, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 26666, UAESustainable and Renewable Energy Engineering Department, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, UAEDepartment of PS & Chemical Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, WI 54481, USAThis work evaluates date palm waste as a cheap and available biomass feedstock in UAE for the production of biofuels. The thermochemical and biochemical routes including pyrolysis, gasification, and fermentation were investigated. Simulations were done to produce biofuels from biomass via Aspen Plus v.10. The simulation results showed that for a tonne of biomass feed, gasification produced 56 kg of hydrogen and fermentation yielded 233 kg of ethanol. Process energy requirements, however, proved to offset the bioethanol product value. For 1 tonne of biomass feed, the net duty for pyrolysis was 37 kJ, for gasification was 725 kJ, and for fermentation was 7481.5 kJ. Furthermore, for 1 tonne of date palm waste feed, pyrolysis generated a returned USD $768, gasification generated USD 166, but fermentation required an expenditure of USD 763, rendering it unfeasible. The fermentation economic analysis showed that reducing the system’s net duty to 6500 kJ/tonne biomass and converting 30% hemicellulose along with the cellulose content will result in a breakeven bioethanol fuel price of 1.85 USD/L. This fuel price falls within the acceptable 0.8–2.4 USD/L commercial feasibility range and is competitive with bioethanol produced in other processes. The economic analysis indicated that pyrolysis and gasification are economically more feasible than fermentation. To maximize profits, the wasted hemicellulose and lignin from fermentation are proposed to be used in thermochemical processes for further fuel production.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/22/5877energy integrationpyrolysisgasificationfermentationbiomassbiofuels |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Remston Martis Amani Al-Othman Muhammad Tawalbeh Malek Alkasrawi |
spellingShingle |
Remston Martis Amani Al-Othman Muhammad Tawalbeh Malek Alkasrawi Energy and Economic Analysis of Date Palm Biomass Feedstock for Biofuel Production in UAE: Pyrolysis, Gasification and Fermentation Energies energy integration pyrolysis gasification fermentation biomass biofuels |
author_facet |
Remston Martis Amani Al-Othman Muhammad Tawalbeh Malek Alkasrawi |
author_sort |
Remston Martis |
title |
Energy and Economic Analysis of Date Palm Biomass Feedstock for Biofuel Production in UAE: Pyrolysis, Gasification and Fermentation |
title_short |
Energy and Economic Analysis of Date Palm Biomass Feedstock for Biofuel Production in UAE: Pyrolysis, Gasification and Fermentation |
title_full |
Energy and Economic Analysis of Date Palm Biomass Feedstock for Biofuel Production in UAE: Pyrolysis, Gasification and Fermentation |
title_fullStr |
Energy and Economic Analysis of Date Palm Biomass Feedstock for Biofuel Production in UAE: Pyrolysis, Gasification and Fermentation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Energy and Economic Analysis of Date Palm Biomass Feedstock for Biofuel Production in UAE: Pyrolysis, Gasification and Fermentation |
title_sort |
energy and economic analysis of date palm biomass feedstock for biofuel production in uae: pyrolysis, gasification and fermentation |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Energies |
issn |
1996-1073 |
publishDate |
2020-11-01 |
description |
This work evaluates date palm waste as a cheap and available biomass feedstock in UAE for the production of biofuels. The thermochemical and biochemical routes including pyrolysis, gasification, and fermentation were investigated. Simulations were done to produce biofuels from biomass via Aspen Plus v.10. The simulation results showed that for a tonne of biomass feed, gasification produced 56 kg of hydrogen and fermentation yielded 233 kg of ethanol. Process energy requirements, however, proved to offset the bioethanol product value. For 1 tonne of biomass feed, the net duty for pyrolysis was 37 kJ, for gasification was 725 kJ, and for fermentation was 7481.5 kJ. Furthermore, for 1 tonne of date palm waste feed, pyrolysis generated a returned USD $768, gasification generated USD 166, but fermentation required an expenditure of USD 763, rendering it unfeasible. The fermentation economic analysis showed that reducing the system’s net duty to 6500 kJ/tonne biomass and converting 30% hemicellulose along with the cellulose content will result in a breakeven bioethanol fuel price of 1.85 USD/L. This fuel price falls within the acceptable 0.8–2.4 USD/L commercial feasibility range and is competitive with bioethanol produced in other processes. The economic analysis indicated that pyrolysis and gasification are economically more feasible than fermentation. To maximize profits, the wasted hemicellulose and lignin from fermentation are proposed to be used in thermochemical processes for further fuel production. |
topic |
energy integration pyrolysis gasification fermentation biomass biofuels |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/22/5877 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT remstonmartis energyandeconomicanalysisofdatepalmbiomassfeedstockforbiofuelproductioninuaepyrolysisgasificationandfermentation AT amanialothman energyandeconomicanalysisofdatepalmbiomassfeedstockforbiofuelproductioninuaepyrolysisgasificationandfermentation AT muhammadtawalbeh energyandeconomicanalysisofdatepalmbiomassfeedstockforbiofuelproductioninuaepyrolysisgasificationandfermentation AT malekalkasrawi energyandeconomicanalysisofdatepalmbiomassfeedstockforbiofuelproductioninuaepyrolysisgasificationandfermentation |
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